Radiators and reserviors

[seross69]

I have a question about putting your radiator above your reservoir and pump. The Question is how will you keep the radiator full of water so it can be more efficient? If it is laying flat and you have the fittings facing down then how will you keep it full of water?? To me it seems they would be just enough water in it to move to the next fitting nothing to make it actually fill up. Water takes the path of least resistance and also tries to move to the lowest point and be level depending on the amount of water in system. </SPAN>

Am I thinking wrong or not seeing something right??</SPAN>

I have room in my case so I think I am going to turn the top radiator to where the fitting come out of the top this will add some resistance but will make sure that the radiator is full and doing its most efficient job. I think?? </SPAN>

Can anyone add to this or help me see the engineering of the fluid hydraulics better??</SPAN>

[profJim]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

A web search using computer water cooling tutorial guide will provide information that explains the proper way to purge all air in the system so that you will have optimal cooling.

[seross69]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

Profjim,

thank you for your response and i am reading these and doing a lot of reading on everything i can find on water cooling and controls of it. I work as a Maintenance Supervisor/ Engineer so i come up with problems sometimes where there is no problem but sometimes i am correct.. This is what i am planning on doing can you tell me if you think i have enough pump for this??

I am going to have a 240mm reservoir with a Koolance PMP-450 Pump in the center section of the case between the mother board and the drive bays. going to go from this to 2 Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 Full Copper 240mm with 2 delta 120x38mm PFB1212UHE Ultra Extreme fans in the center of them making a sandwich and going to put a lot of noise insulation around the radiators and fan to keep noise down the Radiators will be in series and will have Corsair Air Series AF120 Performance Edition High Airflow on each side of the radiators. They I am going to have a y with 3/8 going through the ram, motherboard blocks into an Alphacool NexXxoS UT30 360mm on top. The other part of the y is going to be 1/2 through 2 GXT680's then into the 360 radiator up top down to the reservoir. This is all going in a Cosmos II.

[profJim]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

You're welcome.
My water cooling experience is limited to going swimming on a hot summer's day.
It will be much easier to understand your setup if you post a diagram that shows each of the components, flow diagram and the position in your computer case. It will be easier to understand if you include a list of the components that includes their brand names, model numbers and quantity. Including links to each of the components will help.
Will each radiator have a push/pull fan setup? How many fans per radiator?
What are the specifications for the water pump?

I've PM'd boondocks to see if he can assist you.
The attached diagram is a overly simplified diagram that I found.

[seross69]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

thanks again Profjim,

I will make a diagram and post it on here today, with all the information you said was needed.

[seross69]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

Here is the diagram of my cooling system.

hopfully you can understand this.

The reservior is a koolance 250mmx60mm with a koolance PMP-450 Pump, the blocks on the mother board are EK-FB KIT RE4 CSQ, blocks on the ram is Bitspower Universal RAM Module Water Cooling Set For 4 Banks 4-DIMMs - Clear/Black.

[profJim]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

What is the mounting position for each radiator? Top of the case? Inside or outside of the case?
If the radiators are inside of your Cosmos II case, are the fans exhausting air from the inside of the case to the outside?
It sounds like your will have 2 Delta fans on each radiator.
Will each pair of fans be located in the middle of the radiator using a push-pull setup?
Will each fan be mounted on each side of the radiator? Like this? 0||0 where 0 = one fan and || = radiator
It's not clear what your coolant flow loops are and where the pump and reservoir is located in the loop.

[seross69]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

ProfJim See the below answers to your questions in red. i will try and do a better drawing and post it later but hopefully you can understand now. i know i am not good at explaining anything to anyone but me?? lol

What is the mounting position for each radiator? Top of the case? Inside or outside of the case? The Radiator that is above the mother board will be in the top of the Cosmos II
If the radiators are inside of your Cosmos II case, are the fans exhausting air from the inside of the case to the outside? Yes see this drawing and hopefully you can understand how i am doing the Radiators in the bottom of the case.
It sounds like your will have 2 Delta fans on each radiator. I will have the delta's inbetween the radiators like on this drawing.
Will each pair of fans be located in the middle of the radiator using a push-pull setup? Going to use the cosair fans i have on the drawing to provide some push pull.
Will each fan be mounted on each side of the radiator? Like this? 0||0 where 0 = one fan and || = radiator I will Do like this 0||0||0
It's not clear what your coolant flow loops are and where the pump and reservoir is located in the loop. The reservior is located between the motherboard and the drive bays in the cosmos II, the pump is part of the reservior and 1 240mm Radiator blowing in the top and then the double 240 blowing from one side of the lower compartment to the other.

[profJim]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

Never in a million years would I try to describe your setup only using words.
I think that your sandwiched fan/dual radiator setup in the bottom of the case will require a lot of tweaking to get optimal cooling.
I'm not an engineer, but I think that a better fan setup might be with the delta fans at the bottom of both radiators and that you don't install any fans between the radiators. My best SWAG is that the Delta fans should be run where their air flow is the same or slightly higher than the Corsair fans.

Hopefully boondocks will have some good suggestions based on his water cooling experience.

[seross69]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

Well dont laugh too hard ProfJim. Either i am crazy or not explaining it right but the sandwich with the high press, cfm fans seems like a good idea. i agree it will take a lot of work and tweaking and may not ever work correctly. also the more i think about it, the more i think that the delta fans will destroy the cosair and i dont need them. but i am going to try this and will be sure and post pictures temps and all my results.

[boondocks]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

I have a question about putting your radiator above your reservoir and pump. The Question is how will you keep the radiator full of water so it can be more efficient? If it is laying flat and you have the fittings facing down then how will you keep it full of water?? To me it seems they would be just enough water in it to move to the next fitting nothing to make it actually fill up. Water takes the path of least resistance and also tries to move to the lowest point and be level depending on the amount of water in system. </SPAN>

Am I thinking wrong or not seeing something right??</SPAN>

I have room in my case so I think I am going to turn the top radiator to where the fitting come out of the top this will add some resistance but will make sure that the radiator is full and doing its most efficient job. I think?? </SPAN>

Can anyone add to this or help me see the engineering of the fluid hydraulics better??</SPAN>

The system is sealed, there is no place for the water to go.

The most important thing to do is place the reservoir before the pump in your loop, and for the reservoir to be higher than the pump. (there are exceptions to this, but I won't get into all that).

Another thing to consider is that you will want to keep your tubing to a minimum, so as to have a decent flow. The more tubing, the longer the path the water takes, the more drop in pressure you get. Generally, real world testing shows that 1 gallon per minute and higher is considered optimum. After a certain point you need to add more pumping power. People do this by using multiple pumps, but in your average loop usually not necessary.

Turning a radiator so the fittings face "up" is fine, although if it's at the top of the case it could mean more tubing = more pressure drop, and could be harder to bleed air out of the loop. Generally speaking you can face the radiator any direction you want, but like I say you want to use as little tubing as possible.

[seross69]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

boondocks,

thank you for you answer and help and i will learn from what you say. by the time i get home and get it figured out i should have 1 more kick but cooling system and PC

[seross69]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

boondocks,

do i have to have a reservior in my system. the reason i am asking is i am going to run a water chiller at 5 to 10 c to cool a TEC on my CPU and i will have to insulate it if i am going to do this and i thought this would be ugly but if i need a reservior i will put a small one in and insulate it.

[boondocks]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

Here is one of my rigs, I labeled flow directions and major cooling components.

[boondocks]

Re: Radiators and reserviors

boondocks,

do i have to have a reservior in my system. the reason i am asking is i am going to run a water chiller at 5 to 10 c to cool a TEC on my CPU and i will have to insulate it if i am going to do this and i thought this would be ugly but if i need a reservior i will put a small one in and insulate it.

TEC is beyond my scope of knowledge. I don't see how you could prime your system without a res, it's easy to burn some of the pumps out if they run dry.